West Virginia's Mine Wars

Compiled by the West Virginia State Archives

On March 12, 1883, the first carload of coal was transported from
Pocahontas in Tazewell County, Virginia, on the Norfolk and Western
Railway. This new railroad opened a gateway to the untapped
coalfields of southwestern West Virginia, precipitating a dramatic
population increase. Virtually overnight, new towns were created as
the region was transformed from an agricultural to industrial
economy. With the lure of good wages and inexpensive housing,
thousands of European immigrants rushed into southern West
Virginia. In addition, a large number of African Americans migrated
from the southern states. The McDowell County black population
alone increased from 0.1 percent in 1880 to 30.7 percent in 1910.

Most of these new West Virginians soon became part of an
economic system controlled by the coal industry. Miners worked in
company mines with company tools and equipment, which they were
required to lease. The rent for company housing and cost of items
from the company store were deducted from their pay. The stores
themselves charged over-inflated prices, since there was no
alternative for purchasing goods. To ensure that miners spent their
wages at the store, coal companies developed their own monetary
system. Miners were paid by scrip, in the form of tokens, currency,
or credit, which could be used only at the company store.
Therefore, even when wages were increased, coal companies simply
increased prices at the company store to balance what they lost in
pay.

Miners were also denied their proper pay through a system known
as cribbing. Workers were paid based on tons of coal mined. Each
car brought from the mines supposedly held a specific amount of
coal, such as 2,000 pounds. However, cars were altered to hold more
coal than the specified amount, so miners would be paid for 2,000
pounds when they actually had brought in 2,500. In addition,
workers were docked pay for slate and rock mixed in with the coal.
Since docking was a judgment on the part of the checkweighman,
miners were frequently cheated.

In addition to the poor economic conditions, safety in the mines
was of great concern. West Virginia fell far behind other major
coal-producing states in regulating mining conditions. Between 1890
and 1912, West Virginia had a higher mine death rate than any other
state. West Virginia was the site of numerous deadly coal mining
accidents, including the nation's worst coal disaster. On December
6, 1907, an explosion at a mine owned by the Fairmont Coal Company
in Monongah, Marion County, killed 361. One historian has suggested
that during World War I, a U.S. soldier had a better statistical
chance of surviving in battle than did a West Virginian working in
the coal mines.

In response to poor conditions and low wages in the late 1800s,
workers in most industries developed unions. Strikes generally
focused on a specific problem, lasted short periods of time, and
were confined to small areas. During the 1870s and 1880s, there
were several attempts to combine local coal mining unions into a
national organization. After several unsuccessful efforts, the
United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) was formed in Columbus, Ohio,
in 1890. In its first ten years, the UMWA successfully organized
miners in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Attempts to
organize West Virginia failed in 1892, 1894, 1895, and 1897.

In 1902, the UMWA finally achieved some recognition in the
Kanawha-New River Coalfield, its first success in West Virginia.
Following the union successes, coal operators had formed the
Kanawha County Coal Operators Association in 1903, the first such
organization in the state. It hired private detectives from the
Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency in Bluefield as mine guards to
harass union organizers. Due to these threats, the UMWA discouraged
organizers from working in southern West Virginia.

By 1912, the union had lost control of much of the Kanawha- New
River Coalfield. That year, UMWA miners on Paint Creek in Kanawha
County demanded wages equal to those of other area mines. The
operators rejected the wage increase and miners walked off the job
on April 18, beginning one of the most violent strikes in the
nation's history. Miners along nearby Cabin Creek, having
previously lost their union, joined the Paint Creek strikers and
demanded:

the right to organize

recognition of their constitutional rights to free speech and
assembly

an end to blacklisting union organizers

alternatives to company stores

an end to the practice of using mine guards

prohibition of cribbing

installation of scales at all mines for accurately weighing
coal

unions be allowed to hire their own checkweighmen to make sure
the companies' checkweighmen were not cheating the miners.

When the strike began, operators brought in mine guards from the
Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to evict miners and their families
from company houses. The evicted miners set up tent colonies and
lived in other makeshift housing. The mine guards' primary
responsibility was to break the strike by making the lives of the
miners as uncomfortable as possible.

As the intimidation by mine guards increased, national labor
leaders, including Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, began arriving on
the scene. Jones, a native of Ireland, was already a major force in
the American labor movement before first coming to West Virginia
during the 1897 strikes. Although she reported the year of her
birth as 1830, recent research indicates she was probably born in
1845. As a leader of the UMWA's efforts to organize the state,
Jones became known for her fiery (and often obscene) verbal attacks
on coal operators and politicians.

Not only did the UMWA send speechmakers, it also contributed
large amounts of weapons and ammunition. On September 2, Governor
William E. Glasscock imposed martial law, dispatching 1,200 state
militia to disarm both the miners and mine guards. Over the course
of the strike, Glasscock sent in troops on three different
occasions.

Both sides committed violent acts, the most notorious of which
occurred on the night of February 7, 1913. An armored train,
nicknamed the "Bull Moose Special," led by coal operator Quin
Morton and Kanawha County Sheriff Bonner Hill, rolled through a
miners' tent colony at Holly Grove on Paint Creek. Mine guards
opened fire from the train, killing striker Cesco Estep. After the
incident, Morton supposedly wanted to "go back and give them
another round." Hill and others talked him out of it. In
retaliation, miners attacked a mine guard encampment at Mucklow,
present Gallagher. In a battle which lasted several hours, at least
sixteen people died, mostly mine guards.

On February 13, Mother Jones was placed under house arrest at
Pratt for inciting to riot. Despite the fact she was at least
sixty-eight years old and suffering from pneumonia, Governor
Glasscock refused to release her. On March 4, Henry D. Hatfield was
sworn in as governor. Hatfield, a physician, personally examined
Jones, but kept her under house arrest for over two months. During
this same period, he released over thirty other individuals who had
been arrested under martial law.

On April 14, Hatfield issued a series of terms for settlement of
the strike, including a nine-hour work day (already in effect
elsewhere in the state), the right to shop in stores other than
those owned by the company, the right to elect union checkweighmen,
and the elimination of discrimination against union miners. On
April 25, he ordered striking miners to accept his terms or face
deportation from the state. Paint Creek miners accepted the
contract while those on Cabin Creek remained on strike. The
settlement failed to answer the two primary grievances: the right
to organize and the removal of mine guards. After additional
violence on Cabin Creek, that strike was settled toward the end of
July. The only gain was the removal of Baldwin- Felts detectives as
mine guards from both Paint and Cabin creeks.

The Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike produced a number of labor
leaders who would play prominent roles in the years to come.
Corrupt UMWA leaders were ousted and a group of young rank-
and-file miners were elected. In November 1916, Frank Keeney was
chosen president of UMWA District 17, and Fred Mooney was chosen
secretary-treasurer.

Following the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike, the coalfields
were relatively peaceful for nearly six years. U.S. entry into
World War I in 1917 sparked a boom in the coal industry, increasing
wages. However, the end of the war resulted in a national
recession. Coal operators laid off miners and attempted to reduce
wages to pre-war levels. In response to the 1912-13 strike, coal
operators' associations in southern West Virginia had strengthened
their system for combating labor. By 1919, the largest
non-unionized coal region in the eastern United States consisted of
Logan and Mingo counties. The UMWA targeted southwestern West
Virginia as its top priority. The Logan Coal Operators Association
paid Logan County Sheriff Don Chafin to keep union organizers out
of the area. Chafin and his deputies harassed, beat, and arrested
those suspected of participating in labor meetings. He hired a
small army of additional deputies, paid directly by the
association.

In late summer 1919, rumors reached Charleston of atrocities on
the part of Chafin's men. On September 4, armed miners began
gathering at Marmet for a march on Logan County. By the 5th, their
numbers had grown to 5,000. Governor John J. Cornwell and Frank
Keeney dissuaded most of the miners from marching in exchange for a
governmental investigation into the alleged abuses. Approximately
1,500 of the 5,000 men marched to Danville, Boone County, before
turning back. Cornwell appointed a commission whose findings did
not support the union.

A few months later, operators lowered wages in the southern
coalfields. To compound problems, the U.S. Coal Commission granted
a wage increase to union miners, which excluded those in
southwestern West Virginia. Non-union miners in Mingo County went
on strike in the spring of 1920 and called for assistance from the
District 17 office in Charleston. On May 6, Fred Mooney and Bill
Blizzard, one of the leaders of the 1912-13 strike, spoke to around
3,000 miners at Matewan. Over the next two weeks, about half that
number joined the UMWA. On May 19, twelve Baldwin-Felts detectives
arrived in Matewan. Families of miners who had joined the union
were evicted from their company-owned houses. The town's chief of
police, Sid Hatfield, encouraged Matewan residents to arm
themselves. Gunfire erupted when Albert and Lee Felts attempted to
arrest Hatfield. At the end of the battle, seven detectives and
four townspeople lay dead, including Mayor C. C. Testerman. Shortly
thereafter, Hatfield married Testerman's widow, Jessie, prompting
speculation that Hatfield himself had shot the mayor.

On July 1, UMWA miners went on strike in the region. By this
time, over 90 percent of Mingo County's miners had joined the
union. Over the next thirteen months, a virtual war existed in the
county. Non-union mines were dynamited miners' tent colonies were
attacked, and there were numerous deaths on both sides of the
cause. During this period, governors Cornwell and Ephraim F. Morgan
declared martial law on three occasions.

In late summer 1921, a series of events destroyed the UMWA's
tenuous hold in southern West Virginia. On August 1, Sid Hatfield,
who had been acquitted of his actions in the "Matewan Massacre,"
was to stand trial for a shooting at the Mohawk coal camp in
McDowell County. As he and a fellow defendant, Ed Chambers, walked
up the steps of the McDowell County Courthouse in Welch, shots rang
out. Hatfield and Chambers were murdered by Baldwin-Felts
detectives.

As a result of the Matewan Massacre, Hatfield had become a hero
to many of the miners. On August 7, a crowd varyingly estimated
from 700 to 5,000 gathered on the capitol grounds in Charleston to
protest the killing. Among others, UMWA's leaders Frank Keeney and
Bill Blizzard urged the miners to fight. Over the next two weeks,
Keeney travelled around the state, calling for a march on Logan. On
August 20, miners began assembling at Marmet. Mother Jones, sensing
the inevitable failure of the mission, tried to discourage the
miners. At one point, she held up a telegram, supposedly from
President Warren G. Harding, in which he offered to end the mine
guard system and help the miners if they did not march. Keeney told
the miners he had checked with the White House and the telegram was
a fake. To this day, it is uncertain who was lying.

On August 24, the march began as approximately 5,000 men crossed
Lens Creek Mountain. The miners wore red bandanas, which earned
them the nickname, "red necks." In Logan County, Don Chafin
mobilized an army of deputies, mine guards, store clerks, and state
police. Meanwhile, after a request by Governor Morgan for federal
troops, President Harding dispatched World War I hero Henry
Bandholtz to Charleston to survey the situation. On the 26th,
Bandholtz and the governor met with Keeney and Mooney and explained
that if the march continued, the miners and UMWA leaders could be
charged with treason. That afternoon, Keeney met a majority of the
miners at a ballfield in Madison and instructed them to turn back.
As a result, some of the miners ended their march. However, two
factors led many to continue. First, special trains promised by
Keeney to transport the miners back to Kanawha County were late in
arriving. Second, the state police raided a group of miners at
Sharples on the night of the 27th, killing two. In response, many
miners began marching toward Sharples, just across the Logan County
line.

The town of Logan was protected by a natural barrier, Blair
Mountain, located south of Sharples. Chafin's forces, now under the
command of Colonel William Eubank of the National Guard, took
positions on the crest of Blair Mountain as the miners assembled in
the town of Blair, near the bottom of the mountain. On the 28th,
the marchers took their first prisoners, four Logan County deputies
and the son of another deputy. On the evening of the 30th, Baptist
minister James E. Wilburn organized a small armed company to support
the miners. On the 31st, Wilburn's men shot and killed three of
Chafin's deputies, including John Gore, the father of one of the
men captured previously. During the skirmish, a deputy killed one
of Wilburn's followers, Eli Kemp. Over the next three days, there
was intense fighting as Eubank's troops brought in planes to drop
bombs.

On September 1, President Harding finally sent federal troops
from Fort Thomas, Kentucky. War hero Billy Mitchell led an air
squadron from Langley Field near Washington, D.C. The squadron set
up headquarters in a vacant field in the present Kanawha City
section of Charleston. Several planes did not make it, crashing in
such distant places as Nicholas County, Raleigh County, and
southwestern Virginia, and military air power played no important
part in the battle. On the 3rd, the first federal troops arrived at
Jeffrey, Sharples, Blair, and Logan. Confronted with the
possibility of fighting against U.S. troops, most of the miners
surrendered. Some of the miners on Blair Mountain continued
fighting until the 4th, at which time virtually all surrendered or
returned to their homes. During the fighting, at least twelve
miners and four men from Chafin's army were killed.

Those who surrendered were placed on trains and sent home.
However, those perceived as leaders were to be held accountable for
the actions of all the miners. Special grand juries handed down
1,217 indictments, including 325 for murder and 24 for treason
against the state. The only treason conviction was against Walter
Allen, who skipped bail and was never captured. The most prominent
treason trial was that of Bill Blizzard, considered by authorities
to be the "general" of the miners' army. In a change of venue,
Blizzard's trial was held in the Jefferson County Courthouse in
Charles Town, the same building in which John Brown had been
convicted of treason in 1859. After several trials in different
locations, all charges against Blizzard were dropped. Keeney and
Mooney were also acquitted of murder charges. James E. Wilburn and
his son were convicted of murdering the Logan County deputies. Both
were pardoned by Governor Howard Gore after serving only three
years of their eleven-year sentences.

The defeat of the miners at Blair Mountain temporarily ended the
UMWA's organizing efforts in the southern coalfields. By 1924, UMWA
membership in the state had dropped by about one-half of its total
in 1921. Both Keeney and Mooney were forced out of the union, while
Blizzard remained a strong force in District 17 until being ousted
in the 1950s. In 1933, the National Industrial Recovery Act
protected the rights of unions and allowed for the rapid
organization of the southern coalfields.

Blair Mountain stands as a powerful symbol for workers to this
day. The miners who participated vowed never to discuss the details
of the march to protect themselves from the authorities. For many
years, the story of the march was communicated by word of mouth as
an inspiration to union activists. It serves as a vivid reminder of
the deadly violence so often associated with labor-management
disputes. The mine wars also demonstrate the inability of the state
and federal governments to defuse the situations short of armed
intervention.

ADDITIONAL READING:

Cole, Merle T. "Martial Law in West Virginia and Major Davis as
`Emperor of the Tug River.'" West Virginia History 43
(Winter 1982): 118-144.